Maine Rural
Relatives as Parents Project (RAPP)
Funded by The Brookdale Foundation (2006-2008)
UMaine
Center on Aging (UMCoA) and School of Social Work
University of Maine
This
state-wide planning and service project focuses on the
special significance of mental health disorders and
substance abuse for Maine's rural families and the negative
impact such conditions can have on older adults who
have assumed later life parenting responsibilities.
For this project, the Center has partnerships
with the University of Maine School of Social Work,
Families and Children Together, The Health Access Network,
and Barbara Kates, Director of FACT's Maine Kids-Kin
program. The Maine Rural Relatives as Parents Project is funded through a grant from the Brookdale Foundation.
Read the text of "An Act to Provide Guidelines,
Standards, and Rights for Children and Guardians Who
Care for Them"
Upcoming
Events
The Maine Rural Relatives as Parents Project has created two tipsheets for caregivers to help families navigate the application processes for TANF and MaineCare.
Click here for the MaineCare Tipsheet (PDF)
Click here for the TANF Tipsheet (PDF)
In response to the positive feedback received by participants of previous e-seminars, the Center on Aging is planning another online workshop for relative caregivers. The topic will address permanency in grandfamilies and planning for the future. It is scheduled to take place in late spring.
Legal issues frequently present challenges for grandparents raising grandchildren and other relative caregivers. In cooperation with the Maine Kids-Kin Program, part of Families and Children Together, the University of Maine RAPP Task Force is planning a Legal Summit for caregivers, legal professionals, social service professionals, policy makers, and advocates. The all day event will take place in Fall 2008.
The Summit will feature keynote speaker Gerard Wallace, JD, a graduate of Albany, NY Law School and an expert on legal issues facing grandparents raising grandchildren. Other highlights will include a panel of grandparents and a panel of professional discussing what is working well in Maine and what needs to change to better support Maine grandfamilies. Time will also be provided throughout the day for networking and discussion.
Continue to check the website for program dates and updated information about these and other upcoming events. See below for descriptions of past e-seminars and the 2006 Grandfamilies Summit.
Recent
Events
June
26-27, 2007: An E-WorkShop for Professionals
Developing
and Sustaining Support Groups for Grandfamilies
This
program focused on starting and maintaining support
groups for grandfamilies. Grandfamilies are relative
caregivers stepping in to raise the children, often
grandparents raising grandchildren. We discussed solutions
for some of the challenges for support groups. The first
morning was a discussion of the use of collaboration
to help groups in the beginning and strengthen continuing
groups. The first afternoon focused on special issues
for rural communities. The second day was spent discussing
clinical issues that come up in support groups where
grandfamilies raise some difficult and emotional family
and personal experiences.
How do we best support them as they help each other?
Presenters:
Carol
Moore is self employed as a consultant providing
training to nonprofits, schools, and universities.
She is a storyteller and mixed media artist. She
previously directed the KinCare Program for Mountain
Empire Older Citizens, Inc, in Big Stone Gap, VA, where
she was responsible for development and implementation
of services and supports for kinship care families. She
has provided training for Brookdale Foundation's Relatives
as Parents Program and for Generations United. Carol
also served as a participant in Generations United's
second national symposium on grandparents and other
relatives raising children.
Sandy
Bailey, Ph.D., CFLE is an Associate Professor &
Extension Specialist at the Department of Health &
Human Development at Montana State University in Bozeman
. Her areas of research and expertise include parenting
in non-traditional family contexts and caregiver stress.
Dr. Bailey is the director of the Montana Grandparents
Raising Grandchildren project.
Barbara
Kates works at Families and Children Together. For
over 20 years, she has been a program developer and
trainer for child welfare organizations. For the last
7 years, she has been director of Maine Kids-Kin, serving
people who are raising their grandchildren, nieces,
nephews, and other extended family.
Virginia
Holmes has been a mental health therapist working
with children and
families for nearly 20 years. She has a long history
with Families and
Children Together, providing trainings, being a guest
at grandfamily support
groups, and working on the Advisory Board for the Kids-kin
program.
May
29-30th: E-Conversation for Grandfamilies
Raising
the Children and Managing Everyone Else: An E-Conversation
for Grandfamilies
When
people are raising relatives' children, it is often
more complicated than it may first appear. Parenting
is never easy and all of us need help especially when
the child has had a tough time. This e-conversation
focused on mental health issues. How do we take care
of the child and ourselves, and also manage to get help
from the rest of the family, mental health providers,
DHHS workers, doctors, teachers, guardians-ad-litems
and other potential helpers? Over the two days, we looked
at issues related to mental illness, substance abuse,
and family relationships. We learned from each other
about available services and how to get the most from
them.
Presenters:
Barbara
Kates works at Families and Children Together.
For over 20 years, she has been a program developer
and trainer for child welfare organizations. For the
last 7 years, she has been director of Maine Kids-Kin,
serving people who are raising their grandchildren,
nieces, nephews, and other extended family.
Bonny
Dodson, LCSW , is the Clinical Coordinator of Community
Health and Counseling Services Children's Services.
She has over 20 years of experience working with children
and families in various programs, including treatment
foster care, outpatient therapy, home-based treatment,
targeted case management, and residential care.
For eight years, Ms. Dodson oversaw a collaborative
project with CHCS and The Bangor Department of Human
Services providing Home Studies, Relative Searches,
and Family Group Conferencing for children and their
families.
Themes
and Concerns Raised by Grandfamilies
During
the Online Program for Caregivers
- Adjusting
to changes brought about by having children
in the home again and by the loss of the role
of being a 'grandparent' (or Aunt, Uncle, etc.).
- Maintaining
or strengthening a relationship as a couple
when the children have so many needs.
- Helping
the children to have realistic expectations
about contact/ reunification with their birth
parents, and what to do if they don't.
- Managing
the relationship with the grandparents' own
adult children, often when substance abuse,
mental health issues, incarceration, or child
neglect are involved.
- Feelings
of loyalty and betrayal between children, grandchildren,
and other family members.
- Managing
uncertainty when living arrangements are not
permanent and coping with the stress of having
the children come in and out of the home.
- Working
with professional 'helpers'- how to find them
and what to do if you are not receiving the
services you need.
- Finding
and accepting sources of support.
- Discussing
needs and concerns specific to different age
groups (such as attachment issues in young children,
AD/HD in school age kids, and rebellious behavior
in teenagers).
- Discussion
about specific diagnoses such as depression
or post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Locating
and using resources for day care, respite, health
care, counseling, and other needs.
- Inexpensive
ideas for recreation and family time.
- Feelings
of loss.
|
For
more information about grandfamily events, please
contact Melissa Adle at the UMaine Center on Aging at
melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu or Barbara Kates at FACT
at (866) 298-0899.
Project
News
This
next generation RAPP project, funded by the Brookdale
Foundation from 2006-2008, targets kinship families
living in the rural Northern Penobscot and Southern
Aroostook Counties of Maine, while at the same time
expanding RAPP services statewide and beyond. This initiative
incorporates a comprehensive range of programming activities
and the continued facilitation of a statewide task force
and network.
Support
Group Expansion
In
the UMCoA RAPP white paper published in January 2005,
the Statewide RAPP Taskforce identified the existence
of significant obstacles to accessing existing RAPP
support group services for rurally located kinship families.
This initiative will identify rural relative caregivers
that are not currently being served by existing RAPP
programs, and will expand support group services for
this population. The Health Access Network (HAN) has
facilitated 9 monthly support group meetings during
year-1, with plans to expand meetings to 12 monthly
gatherings during year 2.
For
information about support groups for grandfamily caregivers
throughout the state of Maine, please contact Melissa
Adle at the UMaine Center on Aging at melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu
or Barbara Kates at FACT at (866) 298-0899.
Respite/Recreation Voucher Program
This
program was designed to fill the gap in childcare services
that exists in Northern Penobscot and Southern Aroostook
Counties of Maine. At the same time, the voucher program
has the additional benefit of providing relative caregivers
with much needed respite services. The program offers
children the opportunity to enroll in existing community-sponsored
recreational activities. The HAN RAPP Support Group
Coordinator schedules meetings to coincide with planned
community activities to meet the childcare needs of
relative caregivers during regularly scheduled support
group meetings. Recreation vouchers are also offered
to relative caregivers identified through HAN social
services department as needing additional respite assistance.
Education
The
UMCoA has initiated, with the help of statewide and
national professionals and authorities on kinship care,
a series of educational programming and outreach initiatives
for kinship families across Maine, with a special focus
on Maine's rural caregivers. The goals of this
educational and outreach component are to:
-
Offer
four E-seminars to relative caregivers statewide
and beyond.
-
Develop
and distribute written curriculum for kinship caregivers
in tip-sheets, addressing topics such as legal assistance,
mental health services, substance abuse, and accessing
public benefits.
-
Co-sponsor
a one-day conference focusing on legal issues. Families
and Children Together (FACT) will organize a legal
conference that will target professionals who work
with kinship families and UMCoA will develop an
equivalent session for caregivers.
Statewide
Task Force and Network
Over
the past five years, the UMCoA, in partnership with
FACT, has been instrumental in establishing a unique
framework for statewide collaboration among child welfare,
aging, and other human service organizations, agencies
and professionals to address the mental health and support
issues for older adults who have assumed kinship roles.
A critical component of this statewide framework has
been the establishment of the Maine RAPP Task Force,
the first of its kind in the state. UMCoA will continue
its commitment to this Task Force and its accompanying
statewide Network through sponsoring ongoing meetings
and maintaining the Maine RAPP listserv and website.
If
you would like more information or want to join the
task force or network, please contact Melissa Adle at
the UMaine Center on Aging at 262-7931 or e-mail melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu.
Ongoing
Activities
Support
Groups :
Six support groups for relative caregivers have been
organized as a result of this project. Each support
group targets areas of the state which are currently
under served and confronting particular challenges associated
with family substance abuse and mental health. Groups
are currently located in Portland , Augusta , Westbrook,
Bangor, Dover, and Lincoln. Contact Maine Kids-Kin for
more information about joining a support group at 866-298-0896.
Statewide
Network :
The statewide network has been organized bringing together
individuals, agencies and organizations who have extensive
experience in providing services to relative caregivers
throughout the state with other interested constituencies
who are only recently becoming involved with issues
of drug and alcohol abuse and mental health disorders
for families with older relatives as parents. The statewide
network has four primary ongoing goals:
-
Collaboration
across geriatric, youth, health, mental health,
and substance abuse agencies
The
initial statewide network meeting of the Maine Parenting
Relatives Mental Health and Substance Abuse Project
took place on September 25, 2002 . Network meetings
have since been held on a regular basis.
Network members include a variety of agencies, including
the various Area Agencies on Aging, Families and Children
Together, the University of Maine Center on Aging, Health
Access Network, Community Health and Counseling Services,
Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, Casey Family
Services, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension,
Wellspring, Senior Spectrum, the Maine Coalition to
End Domestic Violence, and the Maine Department of Health
and Human Services.
If
you would like more information or want to join the
network, please contact Melissa Adle at the UMaine Center
on Aging at 262-7931 or e-mail melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu
A
listserv
has been
established to foster interagency communication about
topics and issues related to the Project. To join the
listserv please send
send
an email to majordomo@www.mainecenteronaging.org
with the
following text in the message body: Subscribe
RAPP
Statewide
Task Force :
A Statewide Relatives as Parents Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Task force has also been established as part of
this project. The task force has four primary goals:
If
you would like more information about current research
or programs, or want to join the task force, please
contact Melissa Adle at the UMaine Center on Aging at
262-7931 or e-mail melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu.
Past
Events
Topic:
Resources, policies, and changes affecting grandfamilies
Dates:
Wednesday, October 4th & Thursday October 5th, 2006
Times:
Participate any time each day. The presenters will be
available periodically between 11am and 7pm daily.
Cost:
Free!
Presenters:
Barbara Kates and Lenard W. Kaye, D.S.W./ Ph.D.
Barbara
Kates works at Families and Children Together. For over
20 years, she has been a program developer and trainer
for child welfare organization. For the last 7 years,
she has been director of Family Connections, serving
people who are raising their grandchildren, nieces,
nephews, and other extended family.
Lenard
W. Kaye is the Director of the UMaine Center on Aging
and a Professor of Social Work at the University of
Maine School of Social Work. Dr. Kaye has published
approximately 100 journal articles and 12 books on specialized
topics in aging, including family caregiving.
Description:
This is an opportunity for grandparents raising grandchildren,
and other relative caregivers, to 'meet' on-line and
learn together. Topics will include: Local resources
available to grandfamilies and older adults throughout
Maine, policies and recent policy changes which affect
grandfamilies, and how grandparents can and do make
changes to the system. There will be plenty of time
for asking and answering questions.
Objectives:
Grandfamilies who participate in this e-conversation
will be able to:
1.
Identify support resources in Maine
2.
Understand policies and policy changes which may affect
you and your family.
3.
Learn how you may have an impact on decisions which
affect grandfamilies.
4.
'Meet' others and be a part of an informative and enjoyable
discussion.
On
May 31, 2006, over 100 social service professionals,
policy makers, and grandparents raising grandchildren
gathered together for the semi-annual “Maine Summit
for Grandfamilies”. The full-day event took place
in Augusta and focused on the strengths of relative
caregiver families and the challenges those families
face, including the impact of substance abuse and mental
health issues.
Dr.
Joseph Crumbley, a nationally recognized family therapist
and consultant from Philadelphia, spoke about clinical
issues for Grandfamilies, including shared parenting
between the birth parent and the grandparent, the differences
between kinship care and foster care, and the effects
of a kinship placement on all members of the family.
One participant commented “Dr. Crumbley was wonderful!
His dual perspective as a professional and relative
caregiver was so helpful. All caseworkers should hear
him speak”.
In
addition, a panel of grandparents shared their personal
experiences of raising their grandchildren, including
discussing resources and supports they utilized and
changes they would to see in social service policy and
practice. Several professionals stated that the grandparents
provided insight into the issue by sharing their stories.
By
the end of the program, 95% of all survey respondents
agreed or strongly agreed that they had learned more
about barriers to services for Grandfamilies and how
to better meet their needs. A grandmother added that
she felt reassured that I am going in the
right direction with my emotions and rearing of my granddaughters-
that I am doing the right thing.”
A
2008 Summit is currently being planned and will focus
on legal issues affecting Grandfamilies. Please check
this fall for more information.
Professionals
and parenting relatives gathered at the University of
Maine on November 4, 2005 to participate in a workshop
focused on increasing cultural awareness when working
with Maine’s grandfamilies- families headed by
a grandparent or other family member responsible for
raising relative children.
 John
Bear Mitchell, a member of the Penobscot Nation and
Associate Director of the Wabanaki Center at the University
of Maine, sparked interest and discussion on the topic
through his presentation on understanding human diversity.
A service provider in attendance declared “I thought
I was culturally sensitive, but I am walking away with
some new things to think about”.
Participants
also appreciated interacting with a panel of parenting
relatives, who shared the personal stories, struggles,
and rewards of parenting relative children. The panel
was moderated by Susan Nichols, Executive Director of
Equal Opportunity and Diversity for the University of
Maine.
An
engaging discussion on challenges facing grandfamilies
and how professionals can improve their services concluded
the workshop. One participant summed up the day by stating:
“The workshops you put on are always wonderful-
informative with the personal twist that makes it worth
the time to attend”.
Kinship
care has been a long-standing tradition that transcends
cultures and time. Today it takes on a new meaning as
families face increasing pressures from substance abuse,
domestic violence, divorce, unemployment, poverty, and
health issues. Some families are able to address
the safety and well being of their children through
their own resources and these children may never come
to the attention of the child welfare system.
This is commonly referred to in the professional community
as “Informal Kinship Care.”
Other
children may be identified by the child welfare system
and enter foster care. Often there is an assumption
that there are no family resources to call upon.
There is a powerful movement spreading across the USA
to challenge these assumptions and develop better ways
to help families utilize their resources to protect
their children and keep the children placed within their
families. This is commonly referred to as “Formal
Kinship Care.” As the foster care system
becomes more taxed, kinship care is becoming an increasingly
important resource for our children. These families
present with unique challenges and needs that can be
easily overlooked. It is critical that as service
providers we review these challenges and needs so we
are better prepared to support this growing population.
Recently,
the RAPP project authored a series of 5 articles designed
to help the reader understand the experience of kinship
care. The series explores kinship care through the eyes
of both parenting relative (article #3) and provider
(articles #1 & #2). Articles #4 and #5 provide helpful
websites and bibliography for additional reading. Click
here to read the article series (available on our
"publications and reports" page).
The
University of Maine Center on Aging, in conjunction
with Bangor's Families and Children Together, presented
the results and recommendations of a policy white paper
at UMaine on the Orono campus in January of 2005.
The presentation capped three years of research into
factors making it difficult for grandparents and other
relatives to become recognized guardians for children
who are unable to live with their parents.
“We
are offering a series of recommendations, which, if
implemented, would dramatically improve the quality
of life for those grandparents raising at-risk grandchildren
and other young family members throughout the state,”
said Lenard Kaye, director of the UMaine Center on Aging,
who assisted principal white paper author Sandra Butler,
interim director and associate professor in the UMaine
School of Social Work.
Recommendations
included changing Maine laws to provide relative parents
the same access to financial reimbursements and financial
aid that foster parents receive, providing the same
access to educational and professional resources, including
reimbursable family counseling sessions and day care,
providing the same access to subsidized healthcare for
children in their custody, and providing the same levels
of support from mental health and child welfare services
that state licensed foster parents receive.
A
full list of project recommendations are available by
downloading the RAPP White Paper. Please
visit our publications and reports page.
Project
Contacts
Maine
Kids-Kin: Information & support for parenting
relatives and contact information for support groups
statewide.
Barbara
Kates
866-298-0896
University
of Maine Center on Aging: Information about
the RAPP task force & network, educational programs,
and research.
Dr.
Lenard W. Kaye at 262-7922 or e-mail lenard.kaye@umit.maine.edu
Melissa
Adle at 262-7931 or e-mail melissa.adle@umit.maine.edu
|
Click here to download listserv guide
and welcome 
